Councillor Nicky Kehoe has called for the government to release
hospital waiting list figures on a daily and weekly basis. Kehoe
made his demand after it was revealed over the weekend that
waiting lists at the country's largest hospital, St. James
increased by 20 percent in the first five months of 2001. Kehoe
said ``the public are being kept in the dark about how bad our
health care system is.''

The Sinn Fein representative said:

``It would be a relatively simple process for these statistics to
made available on a much more regular basis. By releasing daily
and weekly figures on waiting lists the government can be named
and shamed on a daily basis for its appalling treatment of this
country's sick.

``In the new era under the Freedom of Information Act it is the
public's right to know exactly what state our health care system
is in. Under the current system, the Department is publishing
figures for waiting lists that are more than three months out of
date. Everyone knows our healthcare system is a shambles, but the
government's failure to release day-to-day figures is hiding the
full extent of the crisis.''